1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a locking device that may be mounted temporarily on any one of several door styles such as a rollup garage doors and particularly to a locking device that hooks onto the side or top edges of a rollup door where it may be secured with a padlock.
2. Prior Art and Information Disclosure
Numerous situations exist where it is required to temporarily attach a locking device to a door such that the door may only be unlocked and opened by an authorized individual. For example, in the pest control industry, a number of states have laws requiring, that when a building such as a garage or home is being fumigated, in which case, the building is filled with a lethal gas, a temporary lock must be mounted on all doors and that lock device may be unlocked ONLY by the fumigator.
A number of locking devices have been disclosed which are temporarily attachable and lockable to the outside of a door.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,786 to Bopst discloses an "L" strap having one leg slidably secured against the the center leg of a "U" strap such that the center leg of the "U" strap is positionable between the vertical edge of the door and the door frame with one angled end of the "U" strap engaging a latch socket in the door, the second angled end of the "U strap" accessible to the user for positioning the device and an angled end of the "L" abutting the door frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,785 to Tobey discloses a locking device that is attached to the upper corner of a door such as a door in a hospital room. The device has a "corner bracket for receiving the corner portion of the door and including a top wall and an end wall perpendicular to one another and connecting parallel opposing walls" such that the bracket can fit only on the comer of the door. An arm extending from the backer extends through a flat plate which fits into the corner of the door frame and has a vertical edge and a horizontal edge which engage the horizontal and vertical members of the door frame. The plate is secured by a lock in the extending arm. The use of this device is limited in that the device may be secured only at the corner of the door and may not be attached at an arbitrary location along the top edge or the side edge of the door. Attachment of the device to an edge of the door would be particularly important for a short user not having a ladder to stand on to attach the device to the top corner or for standing on to remove or attach the padlock. The retainer plate may fit only where there is a vertical jamb and a horizontal jamb inside the frame against which the closed door abuts. The device can not be used for a rollup garage door.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,235 to Florentine discloses a device for temporarily locking a door closing against a jamb and having an empty cylinder hole, the device comprising a door grabbing element which abuts against one side of the door and a jamb grabbing element which abuts the jamb on a side opposite the door grabbing element and a connecting element that connects the two elements such as,to secure the door against the jamb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,394 to Stein discloses a detachable door lock device including an elongated member insertable between the edge of a closed door and the door frame with an adjustable first retaining member attachable in a selected position of several positions on the back side of the door so as to accommodate doors having any one of several thicknesses and an "L" shaped second retaining member positioned on a front end of the elongated member and securable to a selected one of several positions by a padlock. When the door is secured, an end of one leg of the "L" is against the wall adjacent the door frame and the end of the other leg is against the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,088 to Tochihara discloses a door locking device deployable to engage the floor and keep the door from opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,165 to Johns is for a demountable door locking device for locking a door from either side and having a member lockable to the door jamb.
The problem with all of these devices is that none of the locks accommodate a range of door frame constructions such as, for example, a range of thicknesses of the wall.